Dual Monitors

[amykhar]

Many of you don't know it, but you have the ability to use 2 monitors at the same time on your computer without spending an extra dime.

Most Gateway computers that I've seen, and Dell as well, have 2 graphics cards when they are shipped. There is a crappy one on the mother board, and a decent one added in. Look at the back of your computer. If you have two places where a monitor cable could go, then you might be in business.

Many of us also have an older, extra monitor lying around. If not, they can be found very cheaply at thrift stores.

If you have Windows XP, you have the ability to use two monitors without buying any extra software. But, a little program called Ultramon, which you can try for free, makes things even better.

Why use two monitors?

I use mine for:
1. I have one set to a crappy 800x600 resolution so I can test EA pages to see how they look for people who still use it. My primary monitor is set at a nice, high resolution.

2. I use it to have photoshop tutorials open in the browser while I work in photoshop in my primary monitor.

3. I can use the good monitor to watch DVDs while I surf the web on the secondary monitor.

It really makes life much nicer, and it didn't cost me anything to do it.

Amy

[thinkerlady[$]]

I should have known. Only you would come up with this thought.
I should have known.

[amykhar]

It's not me that came up with it. It's a common feature for artists, etc. because it gives them more room to work.

[thinkerlady[$]]

Makes sense--I guess Engineers could use the feature too for design work.

[ms_n]

Thanks for the tip!

[ivplay]

If you have a newer, more powerful aftermarket video card, chances are that you can do this with the free software provided as well. With ATI, the software is called Hydravision, while with NVIDIA I think it can be activated in the nView program. You can also set your LCD screen to display in portrait as opposed to landscape within this program, which works nicely if you are doing a lot of word processing.

We have used the dual monitor feature a lot at work to set up two 21 inch monitors side by side with dual screens controlled by one cursor and mouse. It has worked out really well for us there for process controlled user interfaces.